Glee Cast Celebrates Emmy Nods with 'Crazy' Text Message Chain

Who says hearing your phone go off repeatedly at 5 a.m. is a bad thing? For the cast of Glee, it was music to their ears.

“I was aroused from a deep sleep!” Jane Lynch, who was nominated for best supporting actress in a comedy and also for her guest spot on Two and a Half Men tells PEOPLE about hearing the good news. “It’s always a surprise and it’s always exciting.”

Costar Matthew Morrison, who was nominated for best lead actor in a comedy, prepped himself for Thursday’s big announcement by going for a 7-mile run “to clear my thoughts,” he says. “You try to not put too much importance on something like this and I want to say it doesn’t matter to me, but I can’t seem to wipe this smile off my face right now!”

But Morrison and Lynch weren’t basking in Emmy bliss by themselves – the hit FOX show received 19 nominations, prompting the cast to share their excitement with a “text message chain [that] is going crazy!” says Morrison.

“I talked to [creator] Ryan [Murphy] [and] I’m so happy for Chris Colfer,” he says about his costar who was nominated for his role as Kurt Hummel on the show. “I texted Jane and I texted Lea [Michele] and I texted the hair and makeup department! We have all been in the loop.”

For 20-year-old Colfer, the good news came as an unexpected but pleasant surprise. “I knew there was the possibility but I don t think I could have expected this,” says the first-time nominee, who rang up his parents, teachers, “the lunch ladies from my high school and pretty much anyone!”

But it’s Murphy who’s perhaps the happiest one in the bunch. “I love all of them. I feel like I’m a dad and my kids just got into Harvard,” he tells PEOPLE.

So how are the Glee stars planning to celebrate their success? With a few days of down time before returning to set – and (jokingly) making some diva-like demands.

Jokes Lynch: “I’m going to be kind of a nightmare from now on. I’ll come to set two or three hours late, have 17 or 18 more custom-made track suits. One in gold lamé – 14-karat gold. Maybe I can go that far!”